Infant&#39;s pants



M. KRAFT INFANT'S PANTS Aug. 4, 1942.

Filed March 14, 1941 Patented Aug. 4, 1942.

INFANTS PANTS Marie Kraft, Three Oaks, Mich., assignor to The Warren Featherbone 00., Three Oaks, Micln, a

corporation of Michigan Application March 14, 1941, Serial No. 383,380

1 Claim.

This invention relates to improvements in infant's pants, and more particularly to an infants garment consisting of an outer cover of waterproof material fashioned after the manner of a pair of snug fitting trunks and an inner lining or pad of soft absorbent material readily removable for disposal.

As the foregoing description suggests, the im-,

proved garment replaces the more common diaper, and the object of the invention is to combine the essential features of comfort, protection, ease of pad changing and avoidance of all possible sources of irritation and discomfort.

The pads, as the separable and disposable element of the garment, should be made as cheaply as possible so as to permit of their purchase in quantity, and therefore another object of the invention is to provide an inexpensive but satisfactory method of fastening the pads into the outer and relative permanent cover, without adding to the initial cost thereof.

One of the objections to similar garments now on the market is the lack of any fastening for the pads, with the result that they tend to bunch up, causing an uncomfortable condition, apart from leaving much to be desired in effectiveness. Presumably the failure to provide a suitable fastening for the pads has been prompted by the belief that any positive fastening involves the use of safety pins or other metal- 110 fasteners, and this would mean some additional cost or the exposure of metal parts coupled with a sacrifice of comfort in the fit of ,the garment.

But the improved garment herein disclosed has solved the problem of securely fastening the pads in the cover without sacrificing any of the other desirable features of the garment, and a preferred embodiment thereof is disclosed in the accompanying drawing, in which Figure 1 is a general view in perspective .of the improved infants pants as it is made up to fit the body; Figure 2 is an enlarged detail view of one corner section of the garment showing the manner in which the pad is fastened into the outer cover;

Figure 3 is a plan view of the outer waterproof cover, spread out to receive a pad; and

Figure 4 is a plan view of a pad fashioned to fit the cover of Figure 3.

As clearly shown in Figure l, the garment is fashioned to fit snugly about the lower trunk portion of the infant's body and consists of a the legs and upwardly at front and back and then fastened at the waist, preferably by safety pins inserted through pairs of overlapping tabs at each corner. .A v

The garment consists of two parts, the cover or outer garment l and the removable pad 2 forming an absorbent lining for the cover. The cover is preferably made of a single piece of a light weight non-elastic waterproof material with elastic tabs 3 attached at each of the four corners, as shown in Figure 3. Manifestly, any suitable material maybe used for the main part of the cover including any one of several waterproof sheet materials such as a synthetic sheet rubber known as Koroseal.

Without the tabs 3,, the main body of the cover I is merely a strip of the selected material of the proper length and width with its side edges cut to form the rounded leg openings and preferably bound by lengths of tape 4, 4. The end edges of the cover are hemmed and stitched and at one end two or more tucks are taken in the material, as at- 5, to give a greater fullness in theseat, this being the only difference between the front and back of the garment.

The tabs 3 are small ear-shaped pieces, preferably of a stout knitted ribbed material with a one-way stretch-in a direction transverse of its ribbing, and having their exposed edges suitably bound or reinforced. These tabs are sewed at 6 to the side edges of the cover and project laterally from each corner, with the ribbing extending lengthwise so that the stretch or elasticity is crosswiseof the cover.

Also at each corner of the cover I and along the inner edges of the tabs 3 are the pad fasteners 1, preferably of the two-part snap type, and arranged as follows: A short length of tape 8 is sewed fast to the cover material and forms the foundation for the head or base portion 1 of a snap-fastener (Figure 2). Also sewed along the inner edge 6 of the tab 3 is a short loop of tape 9 forming a free tab or flap carrying-the other half or socketed part 1 of the snapfastener I, the two parts being brought into fastening position by grasping the flap 9 and pressing the two parts together. Incidentally, the tape flap 9 being of loop form permits the fastener member I to be carried on the inner ply of tape so that no metal is exposed to come in contact with the infants body when the fastener is closed.

The corner mounted fasteners I serve to hold the pad 2 in place, these pads being preferably somewhat elongated affair that passes between superimposed laminations of any suitable procl cellulose fibre of superior absorbent properties. The outline or pattern of these pads (Figure 4) follows that of the main body portion of the cover, although preferably cut slightly narrower throughout its central portion so as to lie 'well within the leg openings when the pants are'being worn. Otherwise, the pads are cut to fit the inner surface of the cover, except at the corners, where their edges fall just inside the inner edges of-the tabs 3 but with each corner overlying the fixed part 1- of a snap fastener 1.

And finally, each corner of the pad is punched 1 with a small hole 2, so located as to register with the corresponding snap-fastener I. Thus,

' to insert a fresh pad into the cover it is only necsecurely fastening the disposable pads into the outer protective covering, with increased comfort to the wearer and without sacrificing the ease and convenience of making pad changes. Moreover, no cost is'added to the manufacture of the pads which, being ordinarily die-cut, would include the punching of the holes in one and the same operation.

Having set forth a preferred embodiment of the invention, I claim:

In an infant's garment of the character described, the combination of an outer-waterproof cover of generally rectangular shape, the opposite longitudinal edges being slightly concaved intermediate their ends and the opposite edges being more or less parallel, each of the four corners being provided with an outwardly projecting tab of material which is stretchable in a direction transversely of the longitudinal axis of the rectangular cover, there being one member of a snap fastener attached ateach comer of the rectangular body portion proper spaced somewhat inwardly from the longitudinal edge thereof, the other member of the snap fastener being mounted on the inner face of a length of tape attached substantially atthe juncture of tabs 3 together at each side in overlapping relathe material pulling out of the fasteners.

Thus, the advantage of the herein disclosed garment is the unique yet practical method of the outer portion of each body corner and its elastic tab, an absorbent pad member substantially of the same shape as the body proper adapted to overlie the inner face of the body proper, such pad member having at each corner an opening adapted when the pad is in position to register with, and lie between, the engaging I IE KRAFT. 

